Lions
by Coy Fish
Summary: "If looks could kill I think everyone here would be dead." Gohan looked up at his uncle. It was clear he didn't want to be there, but he had no choice.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: To keep this short and sweet Goku didn't die at the end of the Cell Saga and he had the idea to bring his brother back from the dead. I would like to take this moment to thank Renol for inspiring me to finally write a Dragon Ball Z story. If you don't know who Renol is, then I highly suggest that you read his stories because they are fantastic. And now I am done with talking, but I hope you like it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Give me a Disaster<strong>

The evening was boring and tedious and the look he wore on his face did not indicate otherwise. He was not a person who faked emotion to make other people happy. Leaning against a wall far from the large gathering of people, Raditz had his arms crossed across his chest and watched for any indication of a fight. Of course these humans wouldn't do anything like that here, it wouldn't be considered civil. He sneered at an old fat man that stared at him too long. Of course even if anything did happen all the Earth's strongest warriors were there to ensure nothing got out of hand, leaving Raditz nothing to contend with. The long haired warrior snorted to himself; Vegeta's mate could throw a party for the most asinine reasons, such as charity and animal welfare. As far as he was concerned those who couldn't do for themselves deserved their station in life and animals? Well, they deserved to be eaten. This was one of those ridiculous events and of course he had to go. Not willingly, but being threatened by the screaming banshee that Kakarrot called a wife gave him due cause to go. Tugging a little too hard on the collar of his dress shirt, he heard a few threads pop. Rolling his eyes in irritation he longed to put on his combat armor instead of the infernal suit his brother insist he wear.

Being in hell was no picnic and the time passed so slowly that there was no real definition of time anymore. All he could do was train and listen to the whiney losers that bemoaned their fate being in such a terribly dull place. When the day came that he had been wished back to life, he had been surprised at what had happened to change his fortune. Then when he saw his brother he knew that he had something to do with it. After a very brief scuffle with his incredibly strong little brother, he had been introduced slowly to the rest of the warriors that Kakarrot called his friends. Much to his surprise, Vegeta had been included among that group and he even settled down somewhat. He managed to have a brat with his blue haired mate and had a home of his own. The rest was history from then on, living with his brother and his family. It would do well to say that training with his brother was almost worse than hell; to know that he had surpassed him in strength as well as being able to reach Super Saiyan wounded his pride greatly. Essentially Kakarrot was a living legend, but he seemed determined to beat the snot out of his brother any chance they got to train. In the end he knew it made him stronger, but it pissed him off to no end that his brother might always be stronger than he was.

"If looks could kill I think everyone here would be dead." Gohan looked up at his uncle. It was clear he didn't want to be there, but he had no choice. His mother had no food in the house and Uncle Raditz wasn't a great cook to any stretch of the imagination.

"What do you want brat?" His nephew always showed up at the worst moments. Raditz was irritated and getting close to leaving and finding something productive to do, like training for instance. The young boy's eyes averted his uncle's hulking frame, hoping to avoid provoking him into an argument.

"You looked lonely over here all by yourself." Gohan was a polite and sweet boy, but that got him no where with Raditz.

"I'm not lonely. I'm bored to tears with this stupid party that I have no reason to be at. If Kakarrot could control his woman, I wouldn't even be here." He sneered at Gohan and continued on his rant. "Warriors are taught to fight, not sit about like these human weaklings." The younger boy sighed; he had given it his best shot to make his uncle feel wanted and included, but it hadn't worked. The long haired warrior was difficult to figure out with his hard demeanor. He pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on and went to go to his father who was at the center of a group of people, presumably telling everyone about a wild adventure he had been on or something related to that.

"If you want someone to talk to, I'll be around Uncle Raditz." Gohan disappeared into the crowd, leaving his uncle clenching his jaw. His brother and his mate made their son into a weak warrior. A real warrior doesn't offer emotional comforts or displays of affection, it was unheard of on Vegetasei .

Time dragged by almost driving Raditz mad. There were a couple hours left for the function and as soon as the time was up, Raditz was out of there. He contemplated why Vegeta would let his mate make him go to her dull party; maybe she was blackmailing him? Or maybe she had promised something fantastic if he went? He stood there thinking until one of the doors he had been standing next to swung open, nearly hitting him. His large hand caught the door and almost slammed it back against whoever was clumsy enough to hit someone with a door, but he caught himself. If he had hurt any of the Earthlings at the party, he could say good bye to his face once Kakarrot was done wiping the floor with it. A woman was standing in the opening of the door, biting her lip and pulling on a strand of hair. Her power level was spiking up and down, making Raditz wonder what was up with her. Her eyes did a once over of the room and she made a groan of aggravation.

"What's wrong woman?" A voice seemingly came out of nowhere, but she turned to her right and saw a rather large man. In an instant her power level went down and a quick grin came to her face.

"Are you busy?" The question came out from left field.

"No." He answered dumbly. The woman grabbed his hand and started pulling him into the next room.

"Good, because I need some help." For some reason he followed like a lost puppy. He caught her scent in the air as they moved quickly to another door. She smelled like sugar and flour; not something he had smelled too often. They had stopped abruptly at a door that was open to the outside and there was a rolling cart next to the door, propping it open. The woman clapped her ands together. "What I need you to do is help me move that huge monstrosity of a cake to this cart." The task was rather simple, although the thing she said was a cake did not look like a cake. What she was pointing at looked like a child's dream come true with exotic animal toys and structures. She had already got to once side of the cake, getting ready to use some team work in moving the heavy item.

"Move out of my way woman." Raditz slipped his hand under the support structure and moved it with ease. The woman's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. It had taken four guys to put the cake in her car and it had taken one to take it out.

"Holy crap." Of course his strength surprised her, she was an average human with no fighting experience or any knowledge. She took his hand again and shook it vigorously. "Thank you! If you hadn't have been here I would've been stuck outside here wondering how to get this in." She scurried with the cart going through the doors they had just come through. Raditz followed her until they were both in the large parlor, he went back to his designated spot and watched as everyone started turning around one by one to look at the sugary confection. Many oh's and awe's filled the room as Bulma started spouting out some nonsense about her charity work and she was presented a large knife. The aqua haired woman cut into the cake and the chaos began with Goku leading the way. Raditz noticed that the black clad woman smiled and thanked the host and quietly started maneuvered her way through the crowd. She was going to leave the same way she came, crossing paths once more with Raditz. Stopping before she opened the door she turned.

"What's your name sir?" It was weird to be called sir; it made him feel old. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Raditz." The woman pulled on the door.

"Thank you Raditz, you helped me avert a disaster." She slipped off gently, leaving no one else but Raditz to know that she had gone.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Sorry this took forever! After finals I had alot of things happen to me and they weren't very pleasant, but now with all that aside I can finally present you all with a chapter!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Give me emergency<strong>

The rest of the evening went as Raditz predicted, uneventful and dull. The only highlight of the evening was going back to his brother's home and pretending the whole night never happened. As soon as he stepped into the residence he tore off the suit in the privacy of his room. The warrior started balling up his clothes when he caught another whiff of something sweet. Stopping short he remembered that the woman from earlier had touched him on the arm and hands. Bringing the sleeve closer to his nose he sniffed again. Disgusted at himself he jerked his head back and threw the offending item across the room. Being on Earth was starting to get to him he decided because there was no other reason that he would be acting like that. Turning off the lights he crawled into bed leaving the day behind to start another one.

Raditz endured another night of dreamless sleep only to be woken up by an annoying nephew. The smallest of the Son household was staring at his uncle snore like a wild boar. When his little fingers started poking him Goten was almost on the receiving end of a choke hold had he not moved out of the way. Raditz had shot up in the bed, veins popping out of his skin from sheer aggravation.

"Why are you bothering me brat?" Goten gave him a Goku worthy smile.

"Because Daddy and Gohan are training and Mommy went to Aunt Bulma's house." Raditz massaged his temples feeling a glorious headache coming on.

"Leave before I do something you'll regret." Goten's eyes went wide at his threat as he ran out the door. He hoped his uncle wouldn't tell his dad that he was bugging him this morning. There was more than once when Raditz wondered why he hadn't left the god forsaken planet to find somewhere more accustomed to his personality, like a barren wasteland where it was quiet and no one could hear you scream for miles away. Getting up from the bed he immediately put on his training gear as he got ready to locate his brother and nephew to train. Using the handy new technique he learned he concentrated on his brother's ki and set off into the annoyingly bright sunny day.

Landing on the soft grass he stared up at his nephews trying to take down their father; all of them had gone Super Saiyin. All of them except of course for Raditz. It was almost a literal slap in the face that a mere child could easily reach a legendary status while he still struggled to understand the concept of pushing himself through an intense emotional barrier. It wasn't fair and it grated at his ego, lowering it one day at a time. As if he read his older brother's thoughts Goku looked down and stopped the fight.

"Whatcha up to Raditz?" He scratched the back of his head in his classic style.

"I've come to spar. Why else would I be here?" It wasn't as if he really wanted to see his brother in anything other than a sparring session. His reason for coming in the first place was about to be scratched out of the plans.

"Well Chi Chi wanted me to do a couple things for her in the city, so it'll have to wait." His older brother rolled his eyes in annoyance. Raditz started to levitate, getting ready to go find another willing sparring partner. Goku tried another plan of attack. "Why don't you come with me? All you ever do is sit in your room or spar, it'll do you some good to get out and look around." The older warrior raised his eyebrow.

"Whatever." He turned his back only to have Goten grab onto his leg.

"Please Uncle Raditz! It'll be fun and we never go to the city! We can go ride roller coasters at the theme park and eat cotton candy until we get tummy aches!" As appealing as that sounded, Raditz didn't want to watch his brother's son regurgitate semi digested sugar and other various sweets.

"I don't think so kid." Goten started to plead once more, but his father interrupted him.

"Come on Raditz." There was no good reason he should even go.

"Shut up, you're staring to sound like your brat." He conceded to go with his brother on his pointless trip.

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><p>It smelled like rain even though the sky was still blue and the clouds were still white, but something in the air said that storms were coming. Raditz heard his nephews blabbing on about some asinine topic, not caring to hear more than he had to. The day was as normal as one could get, leaving Raditz yearning for something more exciting.<p>

"Do you smell that?" Goku had his nose in the air, sniffing like a dog would when a steak was near. Mimicking his brother he sniffed the air, trying to sort out each individual scent. Goten had also stopped to sniff and like his father, his eyes started to glaze over in delight.

"Is Mommy gonna get mad if we go shop for her surprise party?" Goku ruffled his son's hair and chuckled.

"Goten, your mother doesn't need to know everything we did today, right?" He winked at his son, hoping he would catch his drift. The smallest Son gave a confused look before the light bulb went off in his head.

"Oh right…" Not standing to watch the idiocy both son and father shared Raditz pushed passed them and walked closer to the sugary sweet smell. It wasn't before long that he heard a man yelling quite loudly. The warrior picked up the pace in hopes that he would be able to use his fighting skills on a lowly human. Walking into an open door way he saw black smoke billowing out of a back room. There were people waving large sheets of metal in hopes that the bad air would clear out before setting off the sprinkler system. The man was yelling again, but this time Raditz could hear clearly.

"Elyse! How long were you going to leave that in there? Where is your head today? Now we have to start a brand new one and pray to Kami that it'll be done on time!" A female interjected.

"Well if you hadn't pushed off your work on me then I would have been paying attention to the oven! If I hadn't been decorating your stuff and trying to keep the damn fondant from falling off we wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place!" The metal door swung open, both the man and woman were still arguing. "It's a wonder I haven't fired you yet! All you do is pawn your work off on me and act like you're so busy. If you weren't my cousin then you would've been done a long time ago buddy!" Her finger poked the man in the chest. There was a cough in the background. Turning to the source of the noise, Elyse saw the man who helped her out the night before. Her cheeks flushed a bright red, embarrassed that she had caused such a scene in the front of the store.

"Is there anything I could help you with?" She tugged on a strand of her black hair. Just as she asked a man in a bright orange and blue outfit came in and his two sons. Raditz put a hand up to his forehead and rubbed the skin.

"I was coming to warm you abut my brother and his brats." Not quite understanding what he was talking about she looked to the side of him and saw his brother eat almost all the sample cupcakes in one shot. Her hand went to her gaping mouth. He was almost going to eat the rest before she side stepped Raditz and grabbed the plate from the counter that Goku was eating off of.

"What can I help you with today sir?" She hoped she hadn't offended him, but she didn't want all her food to go into his stomach.

Taking a huge gulp, Goku swallowed the sugary confectionaries. "My wife's birthday is in a few days and I was hoping I could get something for her." In a few days? People usually came in two weeks to a month early to get the sketches done and try out some different flavors if cake. Sighing, she led him to a chair and started asking him the usual questions.

"So it's your wife's birthday. Do you have any idea how many people are going to be there?" Goku scratched his chin. There weren't going to be too many people, but he sure did love cake.

"About sixty people." He knew that she also had no idea how big a Saiyan appetite was. Elyse wrote on her clip board.

"Okay, next on the agenda is what type of cake you would like. We had different kinds you can try or you can tell me if you already something planned."

"Those cupcakes were good. What kind were those?" The baker clicked her pen in and out.

"There were four different types sir….." Goku laughed, knowing he looked a little silly at the moment. The dark haired woman decided for him.

"How about I make each layer of cake a different flavor to match the flavor of those cupcakes?" He pumped his fist in the air. "That sounds great!" He was very enthusiastic and it was hard not to smile with him.

"And last but not least, do you have any idea what you want your cake to look like?" Goku thought back to his wedding day and thought about what that cake looked like. He tried to explain what it looked like to her.

"When we got married our cake was a big circle and then a smaller one, and then a smaller one on top of that." Elyse sat back in her chair, laughing to herself. His heart was in the right place, but Kami help him when she brought it to the party he was planning. She hoped that her client liked it, but husbands usually got it wrong when they didn't discuss anything with their wives. While she was filling the rest of the order sheet out, his teenage son came over.

"Excuse me ma'am, but how much will this cost?" He looked anxious and she knew what it felt like to hear the price of something only to realize that you couldn't have it. Casting a look over at Raditz she looked back over to Goku and his son.

"It's on the house." The cake could have easily been in the 500 zeni range, but last night she had been left on her own and Raditz helped her, it was only fair to repay his kindness.

"Really? Thank you ma'am!" The older boy was very polite and sweet.

"Yeah thanks!" She looked over by the counter and saw that Goten had a cupcake in his mouth and icing smeared on his face.

"You're welcome. I'll go ahead and get to work and I'll call you when it's done for the party." Reaching over she shook his hand before he left. The little family left, but to her surprise Raditz had stayed behind. Looking to one of the other bakers she handed off the clip board so they could go ahead and start getting it ready.

The warrior watched her go about her business. Earth women were very confusing to him and this woman wasn't an exception. "Who was that man you were arguing with earlier?" Elyse crossed her arms and blew her bangs out of her eyes.

"He's my cousin. He's kind of an idiot, but I owed his mom a favor, so I hired him on." Nudging her head toward the door she continued, "You certainly have a lively family." He scoffed at her.

"We're barely a family." The long haired warrior Saiyan had no idea why he was telling her that. Maybe it was because her brown eyes looked so inquisitive, but there was no way he was going to get to comfortable with a weak female. She looked taken aback, but she didn't comment. It wasn't her place to say anything. Raditz left her store as the faint claps of thunder started to break the silence in the air. Elyse watched him go, but for some reason she stayed rooted to her spot. A girl that helped her in decorating had pushed open the metal doors and whistled.

"That guy was hot." Chuckling out loud the short haired woman cocked her hip.

"I think he's a little too old for you." Pushing through the door, she let the young girl manage the front of the store so she could get started on her latest cake.

It had started pouring outside by the time that the Son family had gotten done with all of their errands. Goku had offered to do instant transmission, but Raditz declined. He had spent enough time with his family for the day and he needed a break from them. As soon as his family had phased out of sight he started wandering aimlessly around the city. The rain droplets had started to soak his hair and clothes, but he kept going. There was a storm brewing in his mind. He was trying to wrap his mind around achieving the elite status of Super Saiyan, but there was nothing he could think of that he hadn't tried already. Feeling a sudden pressure in his lower chest he looked down and saw that he had run into the weak Earth woman.

"It seems like we keep running in to each other." Wiping her hands on her pants she pulled herself back up to her feet. Walking passed him he felt her grab his hand. "The least you could do is walk a lady home after knocking her down." Following her down the street Raditz commented at her.

"I don't see a lady, just a pushy woman."

She tossed a 'whatever' over her shoulder, but she continued to drag him through random streets of the city.

"Where are we going woman?" It was like her mere presence made him stupid.

"Like I said earlier, you're walking me home like a gentleman." He laughed out loud. Elyse stopped pulling and walked by his side. "What did I say?" The warrior looked down at her in amusement.

"I have been called many things, but a gentleman is not one of them." Elyse leaned on him as a couple walked by them.

"You helped me out last night when you could've said no. You're walking me home now and you could've told me no. I think that qualifies you to be a gentleman, but of course I'll disregard you calling me pushy." They had stopped in front of an old apartment building and she had let go of his arm. "This is me." She looked down at her feet and grumbled something.

"What did you say woman?" Her cheeks turned red again as she lifted her face up.

"I said would you like to come up?" The only reason he had even been pulled into this was because he was avoiding his family and he still didn't feel like going back there just yet.

"Why not?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Lots of dialogue this chapter. Thank you to **gokuspasm** (feel free to stalk away), **Renol **(Thank you, I'm always afraid that I'm going to write him very out of character, so I'm glad that that's not the case), **Chihuahua Face** (Thank you so much!), and **Gindorf091 **(Thank you!)

Fun fact: Chapter titles and the story title are from the song **Lions** from **Lights.**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 3:<span> Stand Me at the Head of the Crusade without a Remedy **

It was unusually quiet for an apartment building and walking inside had revealed a grimy interior, possibly because the landlord was terrible at upkeep. All the things Elyse never noticed were glaring at her now. She was starting to wonder what he must think of her to live in such a run down area. The blood started rushing to her cheeks and she bit the inside of her lip. Walking right behind her Raditz was like a towering giant. The warrior had started feeling out the different ki levels as soon as she had ushered him inside, there was no telling what kind of opponents were behind all those closed doors. Following the small woman up a couple flights of stairs, they went to the last apartment at the end of the hallway. Fumbling with her keys, she realized it had been quite some time since she had anyone come up to her apartment, let alone a man.

Opening the door and flipping on the light switch, the tiny apartment was illuminated with fluorescent lighting. Raditz watched her as she tossed the bag she was carrying on the couch and walk into the galley kitchen. He staid standing, looking around the apartment. All the seating was overstuffed and covered in black cloth. The wood flooring looked like it had seen better days and a small television sat in the corner of the room. The walls had a lot of different pictures, some in black and white and others in color. Looking at the closest ones he noticed there were pictures of Elyse with other people, in all likelihood they were probably family. They were all smiling which struck him as odd. The portraits that he had seen when he was younger were of the royal family and he portraits never held one smile.

"Would you like some tea? Maybe some sake?" The tea pot had whistled as she took it off the stove top and poured herself a cup.

"What's sake?" Elyse walked over to the couch and set her tea cup on the side table. When she walked by him, her sugary scent filled his nostrils. He closed his eyes for a moment before returning to reality. Pulling out a small cup she poured him a drink.

"Sake is a rice alcohol. I can warm it up for you if you like, that is if you're cold from the rain."

Raditz wasn't cold, in fact he rarely ever got cold. It wasn't in the nature of his people to get cold easily seeing how their body temperature was higher than an Earthlings.

"However you serve it is fine." He sat down in the overstuffed recliner and waited on her to serve him his drink. Handing him the cup, he took it from her and took a sip. He let the liquid roll around on his tongue before letting it go down his throat. It was surprisingly not bad. Elyse sat down on the couch and curled her feet under her.

"I'm surprised you aren't at least a little cold, I know I am." She wrapped her hands around her tea cup and took a drink.

"I forget how delicate the human constitution is." He sneered at her before taking another drink. Elyse raised her eyebrow and took another drink.

"The human constitution? What are you then?" Her tone was light, but he knew that he had blew it. Bulma had told him that he needed to keep his background a secret because people would ask too many questions. He never worried because it wasn't like he knew anyone outside of their group, but now it was different.

Looking at him she could tell that he was serious. Repeating herself she asked, "What are you?" Raditz downed his drink, shooting it back. "If you tell anyone, you will die." Setting her cup back down she put her hands up in mock surrender. Laughing nervously she told him that she wouldn't tell anyone.

Watching his reaction was like watching a stone. His face gave nothing away. "I'm from a destroyed planet called Vegeta-sei. I am called a Saiyan, but there are so few of us that there will be nothing left to tell of us in several decades." There was no emotion on his face, but the anger and sorrow was inflected in his voice.

Elyse's head tilted to the side. "How did your planet get destroyed?" There was a moment of silence.

"A tyrant named Freiza blew it to smithereens." Raditz gave no more detail after that. Looking out the window, he saw that the rain poured even harder.

"It's lucky you have your brother then. I couldn't imagine being the only one left one my family, let alone the entire human race." Elyse tried to cheer him up, but it had the opposite affect.

"My brother is no Saiyan. Even though he has the same blood coursing through his veins, he is a soft hearted Earthling."

She was confused by his statement. "How is he different from you then? And why is it so bad to be one of us?" To tell the truth, she felt insulted that he kept referring to humans as weak and soft.

"Onna, do you always ask so many questions?" Her cheeks flared red again, but this time in anger.

"Do you always answer a question with a question?" Her arms were crossed across her chest. Raditz pinched the bridge of his nose; he had no idea that this woman would get so annoying. He huffed out a perturbed sigh.

"If you interrupt me I will stop and you will not got your answers, got it woman?" Elyse quickly nodded her head in agreement. "When I was a boy I was already out on missions, fighting in the name of Freiza to keep peace between our planet and him. I was off planet at the time Kakarot was born and sent to Earth. Our planet was destroyed shortly after."

"But why would he be sent here as a baby?"

"Because he was on a mission to destroy Earth's inhabitants so we could sell your planet off to the highest bidder." Elyse gasped in horror.

"You really did that?"

"I did as I was told. I come from a warrior race who lusts for blood and battle, it makes no difference to me as long as I'm alive at the end of the day."

"So what makes your brother different?" Raditz leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

"His space pod malfunctioned and he crash landed. Kakarot hit his head and everything that had been preprogrammed was erased. At some point a human male found him and raised him as his own." When he opened his eyes again he saw that Elyse was on the edge of her seat, her eyes wide at his tale. She was absolutely fascinated and wanted to hear more.

"When did you get to Earth? It must have been a long time after your brother was sent here if you guys grew up without each other." Raditz sat in silence. He didn't want to reveal any more about himself than he already had. He stood up abruptly and started to the door. Elyse panicked.

"Did I offend you? I'm sorry if I did, but I can't help but ask quest-"

"Another time." His hulking hand enclosed the door handle, opening the door to the hallway. Coming up behind him she clasped her hands to her chest.

"At least let me walk you out." Raditz acquiesced and let her lead him again. Once outside Elyse stood under the awning while he walked out in the rain. Looking up and down the street he started to float up into the air.

"You can fly?" Her voice rose to almost a squeak.

"See you another time Onna." He powered up and flew up higher into the air, he grinned as her voice screeched after him.

"You stupid jerk! You better come back again and answer my questions!" Soon he was too far away to sense her power level as he got closer and closer to his brother's home. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he just went to his bedroom window and opened it. He crept into the dark room and rose his ki to dry his clothes off. Sniffing the air he smelled his brother's mate's cooking. Dinner would be soon and of course he was expected to join. A couple knocks rapped on the door.

"Enter." His brother's spiky hair entered the room before he did.

"I noticed you just got home. Is everything okay?" If there was he certainly wasn't telling Kakarot.

"No." He took his shirt off and replaced it with something sturdier that would withstand his training. He stilled as he felt his brother getting nearer. Goku gave a quick sniff around his brother, smelling sugar and sweat. He started grinned like an idiot and nudged Raditz in the ribs.

"You saw that girl again didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Raditz pushed passed his brother to go to the dining area.

"You do to, you sly dog." He kept grinning as he went after his older brother.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you to **SpaceCat710** (I have to say that I'm so thankful for your indepth review. I will have to say that I'm still thinking about bringing Nappa back, but it might be too much for me to juggle because the Z gang are about to head to the World Martial Arts tournament and that's lots of mayhem already. I'm also happy that you enjoy my story so far.), and to **gokuspasm **(I'm glad you liked that ending. I've been trying write the chapters like an episode of the series, so I hope my characterizations are good so far.)

**R&R, it's much appreciated.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Show me to the Shipwreck<strong>

There was blood splatter on the floor of the gravity room. Grunts of pain echoed off the metal walls as two men tried to beat each other into submission. When it seemed like the battle would go on forever a body was flung to the ground at a high velocity, cracking the tile floor underneath him. Raditz gasped for breath, having had the wind knocked out of him. He spat up blood and sat up, pulling his reluctant body off the floor. Taking a few more breaths to recuperate, he tried to stand, but found his legs weren't cooperating with him.

"What's the matter Raditz? Finally realize what a weakling you are?" Vegeta stood before him with a taunting sneer. As the Prince of all Saiyans, it was his duty to beat his subjects into submission. The extreme torture felt extremely gratifying to the prince. With each night that passed and the moon got closer to becoming a full moon, his blood lust increased along with it. The moon cycle didn't just affect him solely. Lately Raditz had become so easily agitated that Goku had to intervene in a couple of disputes between him and Gohan.

It wasn't graceful or elegant, but with each taunt Raditz pulled himself up and launched himself at Vegeta. It hadn't been expected or anticipated, so he managed a full body slam. The long haired warrior felt like it had been a good solid hit, but he was flung downwards once more, indicating that his last attempt at a take down was futile. A sudden surge in power alarmed him and a bright light filled the room, making him that much more worried. Vegeta had gone super and there wasn't anything within miles that could stop him from pulverizing Raditz into a comatose vegetable. In an instant Vegeta's elbow slammed into the front of Raditz's jaw. A sickening sound came from his the hinges as his jaw broke away from his skull. Soon the rest of his body took more of a beating. A disgusting melody of bones breaking played in the air. A few ribs cracked, then it was a dislocated hip, next was a burst eardrum from the force winds of impact. Another fist went barreling at his face as he braced for impact; he cringed, but the blow never came. Opening his eyes he saw Kakarot, unchanged, his hand cradling Vegeta's closed fist.

It was in that moment, seeing his brother in his original form, he realized that Kakarot was a lot stronger than he'd imagined. Passing out from his brutal assault, he was blissfully unaware of his nerves firing off their pain signals from all over his broken and battered body.

Looking down at his older brother, even Goku couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach when he saw where all the weird angles his arms and legs were at. It was deathly quiet in the gravity room.

"Were you trying to kill him?" His voice was low, but Vegeta heard him easily.

He powered down and crossed his arms. "It's not my fault he's utterly useless in a fight."

Goku fought to retain his composure. "How could you? He was your comrade and you try to kill him? What is your problem Vegeta!"

The Saiyan prince let his comment roll off his chest as he turned to leave. "Even if he was my comrade, you saw what I did to Nappa didn't you?" Goku stared after him, but turned his attention to his brother. Lifting him up from the floor he slung him over his shoulder. It was hard even for him to carry his dead weight. He knew that Bulma had some type of infirmary for Vegeta when he almost killed himself during training. Walking into the back of the house, Goku flung open the back door. He saw Bulma's mom stirring some lemonade in a clear glass pitcher. The blonde woman looked up and shook her head. She was used to seeing these boys get hurt, but she always thought it was so silly how they pushed themselves too far.

"Mrs. Briefs? Can you tell me where I can put him?" His knees were locked. It was hard holding onto someone who was so large. Bunny wiped her hands on her pink apron.

"You boys play so rough. If it goes on like that someone will get really hurt you know?" Goku snorted at her. Sometimes he didn't know if she was trying to be funny or if she was really serious. "Bulma and her father are down in the lab. It's the third door on the right, down the hallway."

"Thank you Mrs. Briefs!" He started down the hall Bunny called after him.

"Can you tell Bulma that it's almost lunch time? I can make some for you too!" Goku was never one to turn down a meal.

"I sure will!" There was a little more pep in his step after that. Going down the stairs he heard the sounds of circuits being soldered together along with a string of curse words. A the bottom of the stairs Goku saw Bulma under some type of new invention. Trunks looked on from across the room, sipping from a juice box. "Hey Bulma, could you spare a minute?" Mr. Briefs looked away from the research on his computer to see his daughter's best friend.

"Oh Goku, what happened to your brother?" A cigarette was hanging out of his mouth, smoke rising from the end of it. Not wanting to rag on Vegeta in front of Trunks, he left it at saying that it was a training session that went a little out of hand. Bulma rolled out from under the piece of machinery she was working on to look at the damage she knew her lover had caused.

"Holy shit, put him down on the examining table Goku!." Quickly rising to her feet she went to grab an emergency kit she kept on hand for events such as this. With a grunt Goku rolled his brother on the table. It was sickening to look at his brother. He looked like a broken rag doll. Trunks stood on the tips of his toes to see the down warrior. Evaluating the damage himself, he let out a puff of air that ruffled his hair.

Looking up at Goku he remarked, "My dad really kicked his ass." The lavender haired boy looked on in pride that his father was capable of bringing down a man that was probably three times his size. His mother had thrown the bag near the end of the table. Bulma scolded Trunks while tending to Raditz's wounds.

"I'll ground you for a week if I hear you say that word again young man." Trunks frowned at her.

"But you and Dad say it all the time."

Her voice rose a couple octaves higher, making Goku and Trunks cringe. "I don't care if I say it. I am an adult and you are my child, and if I say you shouldn't do something, then you shouldn't do it." A manicured finger pointed up the stairs. "Go to your room right now." Trunks tried to protest, but Bulma wouldn't hear of it. When he left she turned to Goku. "Trunks was right, he really did kick his ass." Grabbing Raditz's jaw, she pushed on it until she felt it was in the right area in his skull. Goku looked on, feeling a bit helpless. All he knew was the senzu beans could fix him up or that throwing him in a rejuvination tank would help the healing process speed up.

Watching her handy work, he questioned her. "Why are you doing all that?"

Bulma put all her weight into popping his leg back into his hip socket, but it wasn't budging. "I need you to push into his leg Goku, I'm not strong enough."

Bulma held the massive leg in place, looking at the orange clad warrior expectantly. It wasn't every day that he was asked to play physician and he certainly didn't want to hurt his brother any more than he already was."Are you sure?" Goku knew he could do it, but it never hurt to double check.

Getting frustrated, Bulma started to yell. "He can wake up any minute now. Can you get this done so we can put him in the rejuvenation tank?" Springing into action he put both hands on the leg and pushed harder than he would have if he was dealing with a regular person like Bulma or ChiChi. Goku could feel the bone sliding in, but it made him feel sick. If there wasn't a needle around, then maybe he wouldn't have to teleport out of the lab. There was a loud pop. Cocking her head to the side, Bulma looked on deciding that his leg looked anatomically correct.

"What do we do now?"

Bulma walked briskly to a computer and started typing information in. "I've done all I can do. You need to put him in the tank while I put in his information." Picking Raditz back up, Goku looked around for the rejuvenation tank but couldn't find it.

"Bulma? Where is it?" Without looking away from the screen she replied that it was behind the door on the far side of the room. Going to the area he was directed to. He opened the door and saw the healing machine. Goku dropped his brother once more into the machine. He could feel his ki dropping dramatically. He shut the front of the tank and told Bulma that she needed to start the contraption. The mask dropped down and attached itself to his face. The oxygen blew into his nose while his unconscious body waited to be immersed in the water like substance. Goku stared at his brother. He knew that almost dying would help increase Raditz's power level greatly, but he would have preferred that Vegeta didn't try to obliterate him.

Bulma came in from behind and observed her newest patient. She was used to putting Vegeta back together after his training sessions, but putting back together a victim of his assault was a little bit unsettling. Thinking on it, she decided that she would have a few choice words with her mate about his anger management. The pair stood there for some time in silence before Bulma spoke."We had to set his bones back in the right place, or else his bones would have healed wrong."

Goku put his hand on the glass. "Thank you Bulma." Looking down at her he asked her. "Why would Vegeta unload like that?"

The blunette looked at him with exasperation. "He always gets moody when the moon gets close to being full. I wonder why you don't seem to Goku." Contemplating for a moment, he announced something surprisingly clever.

"I've gone almost all my life without my tail, maybe Vegeta is still going through the oozaru changes, but without his tail. When he transforms he probably releases a lot of his pent up aggression." Bulmas mouth dropped open in shock. Goku scratched the back of his head, " I know it sounds dumb, huh?" he backed away from the tank and jogged his way up the stairs. "I'm starved! Your mom said it's lunch time, I hope she made enough for all of us!"


End file.
